Holocaust Survivor Zigi Shipper talks to the Birmingham Mail

Considering the facts and figures.

I have decided to analyse data to evaluate the use of technology in education I have set down below a basic model and a link to a web site for those who would like to build their own survey.

The Basic model:
Materials and methods: Skills of students who use ITC in their studies:

My questions to students in local schools would be pre and post tested for my hypothesis. The questions were to be directed though the head of the Art department and local network office, which would include an E-mail to all students directing them to the web survey. Paper handouts were also handed out at the start and end of the projects to make sure that all those attending had access to the survey.

Make your survey link     Link given to make their own survey to students.

Potential results and discussion of the web survey;

1. How many hours per week you use computer for study purposes on average?" and "How many hours per week you use computer in total: Example of question below. 

Weekly time spent with a computer for studying purposes Weekly time spent with a computer in total
 0 h
1 to 5 h
6 to 10 h
11 to 20 h
21 to 30 h
30 h plus

2. Are you easily capable of managing the following tasks related to studying technical resources and use of ITC 

Yes                    No   Missing answers (i.e. not applicable/or collected as data for the total percentage)

Use a printer.
File transfer on the web
Use of virtual learning environment
Spreadsheet computing
Presentation making (e.g. PowerPoint)
Information retrieval from the library databases
Handling attached files in e-mails
General information retrieval from the web using search machines
Word processing

What are your experiences of using ICT creatively for learning; Have or do you have use of a video camera. 


Have or do you have use of creative programs i.e. video editing programs, sound editing.
Have you used any image processing programs.
Do you have a mobile phone or PDA that you use for media, i.e. music or films.
Do you think that you need the skills mentioned in the above questions.
Do you have an internet connection at home.
Do you feel that you have enough access to computers at school
Do you have access to a photocopier or scanner.

My predictions for the outcome: 

Almost all of the students will have used computers for his or her studies. Over half of the respondents I expect will have utilized a computer for study purposes 1 to 5 hours weekly, and for other purposes substantially more. I predict most of the students possess a computer of his or her own. More than half of these students I would expect will own a printer and more than half of respondents will have an Internet connection at home. Most students will feel that there are enough computers in classrooms at their school, but maybe not creatively in art departments. Besides use of computers, students that have the use of a scanner, photocopier, printer, mobile phone, digital (video) camera, sound recorder and videos in their studies would also be high.
The reflections and possible outcomes of those students who have had experience of ICT, could be:

Independence of place and time: 

Teamwork · 

Discussions ·   

Communication (students-students-teacher) ·    peer assessment. tutors.

Personal feedback from the teacher.

Finding all material in one place.

Individual information retrieval.

Own more active participation. 

The following negative attributes could be mentioned and are listed below:

No interaction.
Difficult use of WebCT.
Tight schedule.
Poor instructional design.
Slow modem connection to Internet.
Own responsibility of time scheduling, laziness, lack of self-discipline.
Obligatory commenting ·    more assignments than in traditional course.
Inexperience in studying on the web.
Restrictions placed by network office.

Based on the above mentioned, it might appear that students will have both good and bad experiences of E learning learning.

The New Touch-Face of Vending Machines

Does this connect to digital natives?

'I read this article today and thought that this new technology is more important than we give it credit for. The article below is directly from the' -The New Touch-Face of Vending Machines/News from the New York Times.

Published: May 25, 2010

Back Story With Stephanie Rosenbloom.

“We’re starting to see, more and more, weirder items and weirder machines,” said Christopher D. Salyers, the author of a new book, “Vending Machines: Coined Consumerism” (Mark Batty Publisher), that chronicles the rise of the machines, from the boom in the 1800s Tutti-Frutti gum era to today.

At the same time, the classic vending machine business — sales of soda and snacks — is troubled. Research by IBISWorld said the industry is in decline because of trends toward more healthful eating, increased cigarette regulation, declining industrial work forces and more competition from fast-food restaurants and convenience stores open late or 24 hours.

Revenues for vending operators are expected to be $11.3 billion this year, according to IBISWorld, up from $11.1 billion in 2009. Yet the industry is expected to grow only 1 percent a year through 2015, down from a 2 percent growth rate over the five years ending 2010.

The newfangled machines, which cost $3,000 to tens of thousands of dollars, are now a small part of the industry, generating less than a $1 billion in revenue, said Chris Rezendes of VDC Research.

And expanding the vending frontier has not been without setbacks. One of the first automated convenience stores in the United States began operating in 2002 and was controversial.

Known as Shop 2000, it offered sundries — eggs, diapers, condoms — in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington. But as it turned out, one man’s convenience was another’s dehumanizing eyesore and the machine was shut down.

Other parts of the world are less hesitant. In Europe and Asia consumers buy underwear, umbrellas, toys, pizza and organic strawberries from machines.

Japan has one vending machine for about every 23 people, Mr. Salyers said. The country’s population density, low crime rate and fascination with technology have made it a vending paradise.

“They just line the streets,” Mr. Salyers said. “You can’t find a trash can there. But you can find a vending machine.”

Juan Arredondo for The New York Times Stated:

A ZoomSystems vending machine carrying Best Buy merchandise at Newark Liberty International Airport.

Mosab Omar/Reuters

At the Emirates Palace hotel in Abu Dhabi, a cash machine dispenses gold.

By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

Published: May 25, 2010

              

Vending machines in neon-splashed Tokyo have electronic eyes that evaluate customers’ skin and wrinkles to determine whether they are old enough to buy tobacco. In bathrooms at upscale Canadian bars, vending machines with flat irons enable women to defrizz their locks. In Abu Dhabi, the lobby of a luxury hotel has a vending machine that dispenses gold bars and coins at more than $1,000 an ounce.

MaryBeth Polony bought Proactiv skin care products from a vending machine at the Danbury Fair Mall in Danbury, Conn.
Wendy Carlson for the NewYork Times.

A new breed of vending machine is proliferating around the world — and while the United States is coming late to the party, Dr Pepper and Baby Ruth are already feeling sidelined.

Flashy and futuristic, souped-up machines are popping up everywhere, be it the Mondrian hotel in Miami or at Macy’s in Minneapolis. They have touch screens instead of buttons, facades that glow and pulse, and technology intended to blunt vending machine rage — sensors that ensure that a customer’s credit card is not charged unless the chosen item has dropped. These machines are not for quarters: purchases are measured in dollar amounts that typically start at two figures and go up.

Changing consumer preferences about shopping and the high cost of operating brick-and-mortar stores are inspiring premium brands to rethink how they sell their wares. As Gower Smith, whose company, ZoomSystems, has created about 1,000 automated kiosks called ZoomShops, put it, “A ZoomShop costs less than an employee.”

And with examples overseas showing there is money to be made, the so-called automated retail store (the term vending machine is so Industrial Revolution) is venturing into fashion, beauty products, electronics and more.

A couple of months ago, the Body Shop cosmetics franchise began offering skin care products with ingredients like hemp and vitamin E in deluxe machines at airports; soon will come shopping centers.

In the fall and winter, a company called U*tique will begin selling high-end beauty products in machines that light up when customers approach — a better reception than shoppers see from most retail employees.

In the last few years, Best Buy, Sephora, Apple and Proactiv have put their products in vending machines. Quiksilver offers board shorts and bikinis in machines at Standard hotels.

Such machines also offer nascent brands that have no store outlet another way to bring their products to market. Customers can make returns by calling a phone number on the receipt.

In an age of iPads, high-speed Internet service, A.T.M.’s and self-service check-in at airports, consumers expect instant gratification. Not only are they accustomed to researching and buying products on their own by touching screens and pressing buttons; they often prefer it.

A study published in 2008 by NCR Corporation  found that 86 percent of North American consumers were more likely to do business with companies offering some sort of self-service. Many respondents also said they had a more positive perception of a brand if it offered self-service technology. This appears to be especially true of young shoppers.

“You will hear in studies, ‘My mom shops at the beauty counter, and I want to shop for products on my own,’ ” said Mara Segal, chief executive of U*tique, which plans to install up to 20 automated machines this year before going full throttle in 2011. “They are actively avoiding the counter.”

The new machines are meant to provide a feeling of discovery and charm often lacking in traditional retailing. Indeed, the machines are not “stocked” — they are, as Ms. Segal put it, “curated.” Merchandise in U*tique machines is arranged and lighted like works of modern art in a series of dainty portals, evoking a neon honeycomb.

“We put a lot of attention and focus on all the things that are sexy about retail,” she said.

The machines — which bridge the gap between old-fashioned stores and online shopping — are not only being installed in airports and malls. They are materializing in supermarkets, military bases, college campuses, even chain stores.

The economics make it easy to see why. Mall stores produce about $330 a square foot a year, while a 28-square-foot ZoomShop can generate $3,000 to $10,000 a square foot a year, Mr. Smith said.

Or consider airports, where stores make about $1,000 a square foot and ZoomShops generate $10,000 to $40,000 a square foot, he said. ZoomSystems, based in San Francisco, charges the brands in its machines a fee that includes the cost of rent at an airport or mall. Landlords typically take a percentage of the sales too.

As Mr. Smith noted, the attraction goes beyond payroll and rental expenses. If an airline closes a terminal, or if customer traffic is slow in a particular mall corridor, the machine can be unplugged and moved.

                                

Machines have fewer inventory problems and less theft than a traditional store. Additionally, the main way a brick-and-mortar store discovers what its customers want is when they check out. Automated machines, in contrast, learn about consumers’ shopping habits from the moment they begin using the machine because every click is tracked.

Can Technology be used to improve the experience of learning.

While setting about my research I have come to ask myself, 'how new technology will help prepare young people for the participation of a global market in the creative industry.'

Questions to consider:

Will localised teaching of technology change, what about global culture.

What about accommodating diversity, freedom of choice, learning techniques.

Issues of social justice, lack of equipment for some impoverished areas or countries.

Consumer choice.

Is it neutral learning, what are the possibilities of transferring what works.

Is there explicit connections between location and activity.

Is there any identity issue’s connected to e-learning.

Should the methods digital teaching and learning be different.

How will the new experience of digital learning fit into the rigid content driven programmes of education.

Will digital e- learning deliver more social aspirations.

Open Source Interactive internet?

Does this connect to digital natives?"Gears"

Immersive Social Games Replace the Textbook Or do they ?

Products: Does this connect to digital natives?

A general purpose device that can access the net anywhere and just happens to also work as a good reader. 

Well this interest me.  "cough" Apple"cough"  Maybe now this  device is out there with a market place and is suitable for micro-payments  for content on demand the 'new literature' could happen?

'Posted from my i phone'

VLE & Frog's Learning Platform.

Does this help analysis.

BSF and the aim of transforming education.  A look at the developments of embedding a culture of eLearning

http://www.frogtrade.com/index.phtml?d=322155

Readings to consider

Clarke, 1999.
Clarke, D. (1999). Research design for the learners' perspective study. Available from:

http://extranet.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/DSME/lps/assets/lps.pdf


Heath and Hindmarsh, 2002.
Analysing Interaction: Video, ethnography and situated conduct. In: May, T. (Ed.), Qualitative research in action, Sage, London.


Rex et al., 2002.
'Teachers' pedagogical stories and the shaping of classroom participation: 'The dancer' and 'Graveyard shift at the 7-11'. American Educational Research Journal. v39/3. 765-796.

Sherin, 2001.
Developing a professional vision of classroom events. In: Wood, T., Nelson, B.S., Werfield, J. (Eds.), Beyond classical pedagogy: Teaching elementary school mathematics, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ.


Triggs and John, 2004.
From transaction to transformation: ICT, professional development and the formation of communities of practice. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning Special Issue. v20 i6. 426-439.

Pre-cogs aside. Adapting.

The future is now.

Does this connect to digital natives?

Technology that brings the movie’s high-concept interface to real life.


Take a step back and go “that was cool”…

Well we soak in technology every day; it’s fantastic  – it doesn’t seem futuristic to me, if anything we’re not moving nearly fast enough. But is there is an aspect of it that is ‘too futuristic’ - the question is about the morality of the advancements.

Clearly the g-speak technology demonstrated in Minority Report is now something of a reality. Pre-cogs aside, how do we approach the other bits of future technology used in the film? Are they as achievable, what do you think?

There is a lot of discussion, and I think no matter what we think it’s all pretty much coming true much faster than we could have possibly predicted. Almost across the board  stuff that we observe in the film has been emerging in the real world at a frightening speed. For instance, display technology, which was obviously a big focus of the work in the film… active paper-like displays are here.  I think it is, and maybe now more directly than it’s ever been.  Historically you can talk about Arthur C Clarke inventing the terrestrial satellite years before one was ever launched.  I think there’s a curious way in which sci- fi films let us prototype ideas for technology.

"Check out  the web links below, Star wars is here!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynL8BCXih8U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7HKD-FWKkE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2OksmJthZc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynL8BCXih8U

Web pages of digital Interest.

I have worked at the Exeter Phoenix Art Centre before and I thought I would add a few links that might be of interest to anyone looking for ideas.

http://www.exeterphoenixdigital.org.uk/
http://sta12.wordpress.com/
http://videoolympic.co.uk/